


One Horrifying Night

by annewritesstuff



Category: Changeling: The Lost, World of Darkness (Games)
Genre: F/M, Inspired by Roleplay/Roleplay Adaptation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-06
Updated: 2018-05-06
Packaged: 2019-05-03 01:17:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14557698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annewritesstuff/pseuds/annewritesstuff
Summary: After what seemed to be a quiet week, Ruby finds herself in danger in her own home and an unlikely hero comes to her aid.





	One Horrifying Night

**Author's Note:**

> This is an adaptation of roleplay logs of an event in the online Chronicle 'One Fine Day' hosted at Story Sanctum. Travis and Jeffrey are NPCs created by our Storyteller Rachell while Ruby is my own creation.

Even as she made the shift from scholar to musician, Ruby was still a workaholic. Having stayed up long past curfew and long past her bedtime, she channeled her anxiety into getting her schoolwork done.

Hours passed before she heard a noise coming from the kitchen, the sound of someone opening a drawer, causing her to put on her robe and go down to the main floor to investigate. Nothing seemed out of place, as much as she could see in the late night darkness, but she definitely felt something, or rather, someone, in the room with her. She scrambled to find something to defend herself with but she came up empty handed.

As she turned to leave the kitchen, she heard a sudden tapping at the back door, urgent but quiet. Startled, she turned to the front door to find Jeffrey there. Surprised at his sudden appearance, Ruby quickly slid open the back door and pulled him into the house before shutting the door quietly and locking it up again.

Looking out at the road in the distance, Jeffrey quietly explained, “I’m sorry. He’s **here**. And we can’t run because of The Murk…it’s worse than facing him.” His voice was a quiet whisper and it was clear that he was out of breath. “Did you see him? He came in through your parents’ windows a few minutes ago.”

“I heard something down here but he was gone,” Ruby told him, matching his voice, “How did you know he was here?”

Looking down at her, Jeffrey explained, “May or may not have been watching your house for a week or so, just in case…I put two and two together after Rosemary. I tried to warn Wayne or the cops but they just brushed it off as taken care of. Sorry I didn't say anything. I promise it was from a distance…nothing creepy."

“I think he’s still here, probably upstairs.” Her voice was quiet but it was clearly terrified. She was too concerned with the intruder to process what Jeffrey had shared about watching her house.

“I’m worried about your parents,” he said, looking down at her again, “Little bird told me you’re not bad in a fight. I’m not gonna tell you to run and hide, but maybe find a weapon or something.”

“I’ll figure something out,” she whispered back quickly as she grabbed the broom she left by the broom closet earlier that day after her chores.

From the bottom of the stairs, they could see the light in her room spilling out into the hallway. As they slowly made their way up, the stairs creaked a little under their weight.

“Do you think he went after my parents?” Ruby asked quietly, her head turned towards the right hallway, where most of the rooms on that floor were, “Wouldn’t we have heard something by now?”

“Wouldn’t they have?” he asked in response, following Ruby’s lead at the top of the stairs.

Swiftly changing her mind, Ruby led Jeffrey into her room, closing the door behind her. Once they were both in the room, Jeffrey immediately checked her closet to see if someone had hidden there.

While Jeffrey was investigating the closet, Ruby noticed something on her bed, under the covers and decided to check it out. The first thing she noticed was the blood, then she found the human heart, the sight caused her to shake in fear, frozen, her breathing heavy and tears streaming down her face.

Having just looked out the window, Jeffrey began to comment, “The Murk is still outside, maybe we ca – Fuck.“ He stopped speaking as soon as he noticed Ruby, frozen in fear by her bed and the cause for her terrified reaction. He went over to her, took the covers away to cover the bed and turned her head to face him. “Don’t…don’t look. We’re gonna be okay, alright? Nothing is going to happ –“

Jeffrey was interrupted by the record player on the main floor, blaring music as loudly as it could.

Ruby was startled out of her terror, and it was as though she had just really seen Jeffrey for the first time since his arrival. Clutching her broom, she headed to her brother's bedroom to check on him, scared that maybe he had been the one attacked, leaving Jeffrey behind.

Right before she could check Douglas’ room, she heard Jeffrey call for her. “Ruby! Ru –“ Then there was a loud thud before she heard the creaking and the footsteps.

“Jeffrey!” she called back in a panic as she went back to find him.

In the main part of the hallway, Ruby found Jeffrey on the floor, the back of his head bloody, a pool of his blood soaking the carpet. She had lost track of the footsteps because of the loud music and she was unsure if they had gone down the stairs or into the guestroom. What she couldn’t understand was why her parents or her brother had not woken up from all the noise. She took her robe off, quickly ripping one of the sleeves off and tying it around his head to stop the bleeding.

By the time she stood up, she realized that there was someone behind her and she could feel his body heat next to her. Without a moment of hesitation, she took her broom and swung it at the person behind her with a loud yell, connecting with Travis’ head and shoulder. Having braced himself against the door frame and not having room to move, he absorbed a bit more of the blow than he otherwise would have.

“That’s no way to treat your boyfriend, Rubes,” he greeted her as he slashed her stomach with a kitchen knife, drawing blood, “I don’t know why we couldn’t just get along, but now I have to kill _both_ of you.”

One hand instinctively fell to her stomach where he'd slashed her as she winced in pain, using the broom as a cane of sorts to keep her upright. "The cat was you???" she said, her breathing heavy, "And Rosemary?"

"I needed practice! Rosemary was perfect too. She looked **just** like you. It was difficult at first…but I spent so much time working up to this. I'm finally ready Ruby!” He laughed. “Now you can get away from this place. And I'll take you there. And tomorrow? I'll have a perfectly new girlfriend who loves me. It's perfect!"

Seeing him raise his knife to slash her again, Ruby’s eyes flashed with anger as she took another swing at him with the broom before it broke in half. "You're fucking delusional!" she yelled out, striking his head once more.

This seemed to only piss him off, though he was bleeding from his temple and looked to be a little dizzy and out of it.

"You fucking bitch!!!" Sinking his knife into her stomach, this time up to the hilt, he held her closely as it rested in her gut. "How's that feel? Tell me if it feels good, Rubes. I just wanted to make you feel good…"

And then Ruby could hear movement behind her, despite her ears ringing with the pain and suddenly Jeffrey launched himself at Travis. The two stumbled into the guest room, scrambling on the floor while Ruby stepped backwards, the knife still in her gut.

Ruby followed them into the guest room, and she could feel herself fading, but finding enough strength to attack, she pulled the knife out from her gut and went for the attack on Travis. It had been difficult, considering she had to avoid hitting Jeffrey, but she managed to slash him on the shoulder.

Travis let out a grunt of pain and as he paused, Jeffrey got a hold of him to pin him down, holding him still for Ruby. "Again!" he called out.

“You know what feels good, Travis? This.” Wincing in pain, Ruby took the knife and stabbed him where she had previously slashed at his shoulder, right next to his neck.

Travis's eyes, full of rage and spite, glared at her as she sunk the knife in and then faded and went blank as he fell back into Jeffrey's grasp, his shoulder bleeding profusely.

"Fuck you," she spat out, leaving the knife lodged there in his shoulder as she stood before she stumbled and fell backwards into a seated position against the wall.

Rising from his position, Jeffrey rushed over to her side. “Ruby! Oh fuck. We gotta get you to the hospital…stay with me, okay? Stay awake!”

Struggling to keep her eyes open, she said, "Hey, you're okay." She tried to smile through the pain.

"I'm going to get you help, okay?" he said as he moved her to lay her down on the bed.

She was fighting a losing battle to maintain consciousness. “I’m so cold…” she said weakly.

He took his shirt off and used it to put pressure over the wound in her stomach. “You’re okay, Ruby. Just push down on this. I’ll call for help.”

He stumbled for the phone in the guest room on the dresser and dialled the Heat. When he had finished the call, he came back to find his shirt covered with a significant amount of her blood. He quickly pressed down on the wound with his shirt to add more pressure.

Placing her one hand on one of his on her stomach, she gathered the energy to speak. “Please don’t leave me,” were her last words before succumbing to the darkness and falling unconscious, her hand falling onto the bed.

 


End file.
